Hippie Educationalists and Libertarians

It's the 90th birthday of Summerhill, a school that's an early forerunner of the hippie ethos. Children don't have to attend lessons, in fact, pretty much don't have to do anything they don't want to. With one exception, as an ex-pupil describes:

Even so, I got a book flung at me for talking in class by our inspirational English teacher, an ex-army man. "You don't have to come," he said, "but if you do, you must not spoil it for others."

Which is pretty much libertarianism in a nutshell. Do as you wish but don't spoil it for anyone else.

What amuses (or enrages, to taste) about all of this is that schools like Summerhill, and that educational ethos has become a standard part of primary school teaching in England, are considered to be of the left. Children must have the freedom to be who they wish to be, they must not be directed, they should be simply allowed to explore the world as they desire.

Libertarians tend not to think that children should be educated this way (at least, the ones I know) but do think that this do as you wish but don't spoil it for others is the very essence of how consenting adults should be allowed to live their lives.

Yet that very idea, the one that is considered essential for children by the English left, would leave them aghast, horrified even, if it were even suggested for how adults might be treated.You know, without direction by the State as to how they should expend their efforts.

I can't help feeling that if anyone is to be allowed such liberty it should be the adults but apparently some people just don't think that way.